BUZZ News Shorts: Nightmare Cinema, Rocky Horror, Bond & More

••• Having seen the preview screenings last night, critics are confirming that SPECTREis the longest James Bond film ever. Apparently it clocks in at 148 minutes, just shy of two and a half hours. That truly is Bond and beyond. [via ComicBook.com]

••• Mark Garris, the writer/producer behind dozens of Stephen King TV adaptations and the anthology series Masters Of Horror, is now set to make a horror anthology film. “It’s called Nightmare Cinema,” he tells ShockTillYouDrop.com. “It’s a horror anthology with five unique stories, each with a different director. This is a feature-film collection of unique horror stories linked only by a desire to reach in and grab you by the terror gland, made by a group of directors from around the world, each with a vision unlike any other. It’s the same philosophy I had when Masters Of Horror came to be, but in an anthology film format. I can’t wait to finalise the paperwork and announce the names. I know the horror community will be as excited as I am!”

••• Orange Is the New Black’s transgender star Laverne Cox is set to play Frank-N-Furter, the “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania” in the US FOX network’s TV movie remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. [via The Hollywood Reporter]

••• Joe (Gremlins) Dante has told ShockTillYouDrop.com that his new film, the supernatural horror Labirintus, set in the catacombs beneath Hungary’s Buda Castle, will be a bit of a change of style for him: “Labirintus is quite a bit darker than usual for me. Mostly, my previous films have mixed horror tropes with comedy but this one is a lot creepier than most of the material I’ve been reading. And having been in on its creation from the ground up with writer Alan Campbell makes it more of a personal project. It’ll also be my first picture made and set in Europe, so let’s see how this dyed-in-the-wool-Yankee makes out…”

••• Universal has signed up Ari Sandel, director of the surprise high school comedy hit film The DUFF, to helm its big screen version of the Mattel toy line Monster High, which is about a school for the children of famous monsters. [via The Hollywood Reporter]

••• The Michael Bay-produced TV seriesThe Last Ship has cast Bridget Regan (Jane The Virgin) in a regular role. Regan will play Sasha, a former Navy Intelligence Officer now operating under diplomatic cover in China for the newly reformed United States government. Regan will also been seen Agent Carter season two. [via Deadline]